Raising of minimum wage isn't state lawmakers' only goal

Thursday

Feb 20, 2014 at 12:40 AMFeb 20, 2014 at 11:27 AM

State Senate President Therese Murray wants the state's minimum wage raised to $11 per hour. House Speaker Robert DeLeo, supports an increase, but wants it tied to changes in unemployment insurance. With dueling bills in the two chambers, there are two questions: what will the final solution be and when it it likely to be arrived at?

By Daniel G. PetersenPatriot Ledger State House Bureau

BOSTON – State Senate President Therese Murray wants the state’s minimum wage raised to $11 per hour. House Speaker Robert DeLeo, supports an increase, but wants it tied to changes in unemployment insurance.With dueling bills in the two chambers, there are two questions: what will the final solution be and when it it likely to be arrived at?

“Both issues are in play in both chambers, but the division is more about process than substance at this point, I think,” Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, said Tuesday.

“Both (bills) need to be implemented at the same time,” he said. “The speaker’s fear is that one would be approved and not the other.”

DeMacedo said he agrees with the speaker’s goals to achieve a minimum-wage increase and unemployment benefit reform that would help both employers and employees.

“The speaker is working very hard to address these issues in the next two to three weeks,” deMacedo said. But the problem of coordination has been evident since the Senate voted to raise the minimum wage before the Legislature went on holiday break in December.

Tarr proposed an amendment to the minimum-wage increase that would, among other things, freeze the unemployment insurance rates, but that was rejected by the Senate, which passed a separate bill on unemployment insurance.

In the meantime, the House is working to create a bill that would encompass both unemployment insurance rate reform and the minimum wage.

While the House deals with both issues, the Senate must wait to see how the House will act on rate freezing in the coming weeks.

Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, explained that the Senate unemployment insurance legislation should save the business community $421 million in 2014 alone, with more possible savings in the next three fiscal years.

“If what comes back from the House is not at least what the Senate put in, I can’t see myself voting for that,” Pacheco said. “Otherwise, it’d be going backward.”